Optimum Development nabs $22M construction loan for Grove office building

Project will have 44,000 sf of office space and a 6,500 sf restaurant with a rooftop

Ricardo Tabet and a rendering of the Coconut Grove office building
Ricardo Tabet and a rendering of the Coconut Grove office building

The race is on: who will complete Coconut Grove’s first new office building in more than a decade?

Optimum Development USA closed on a $21.5 million construction loan for a five-story, Class A office building planned for 3480 Main Highway in Miami, property records show.

Demolition is underway for the nearly 14,000-square-foot development site, which is on the same stretch as the Coconut Grove Playhouse. Optimum, led by CEO Ricardo Tabet, plans to complete the new office building in a year to 14 months, a spokesperson told The Real Deal.

The project will have about 44,000 square feet of office space and a 6,500-square-foot high-end restaurant with a connected rooftop overlooking Biscayne Bay, the spokesperson said. Arquitectonica is designing the building.

Property records show Optimum affiliate 3480 Main Highway LLC paid a combined $8.5 million for the two buildings at 3480 and 3484 Main Highway in 2014.

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Office rents in the Grove average about $38 per square foot, and the vacancy rate is 3.4 percent, JLL reported earlier this year.

After about 10 years of no new office construction, a handful of developers have revealed plans for office projects.

Earlier this week, Terra Group and Mayfair Real Estate Advisors closed on a $32.26 million construction loan for their 78,000-square-foot, mixed-use office building at 2860 Oak Avenue in the Grove. Construction will start in August with the completion slated for late 2018.

Other new office buildings planned for the neighborhood include 27@Lincoln, which LointerHome expects to break ground on early next year, and the owners of CocoWalk Federal Realty Investment Trust, Grass River Property and Michael Comras  revealed plans earlier this year to raze a portion of the mall and build a similarly sized office project.